Your role as a Career Professional may sometimes include providing behavior change counseling. This is especially true if your clientele consists of people with employment barriers.
What is the most effective way to support your clients in achieving sustained change? Communicate in a way that helps them convince themselves of the need for change. This is the basic premise of Motivational Interviewing (MI). To learn more, read our Motivational Interviewing for Job Readiness post.
Keep the following five principles of MI in mind when working with "stuck" clients.
- EXPRESS EMPATHY
- Show respect and understanding of where the job seeker is in the change process.
- Be non-judgmental, non-confrontational, and collaborative.
- Recognize that ambivalence or uncertainty is a normal part of change.
- Look at the situation through the job seeker's eyes.
- Listen reflectively.
- Don't direct, instruct, warn, shame, lecture, or provide unsolicited opinions or advice.
- AVOID ARGUMENTS
- Recognize that arguments only produce counter-arguments and greater resistance to change.
- Help the job seeker create his or her own arguments in favor of change.
- Stay away from "labels," such as unemployed, jobless, in denial, addict, mentally ill, etc.
- Don't argue, accuse, badger, demand, threaten, or confront, which might provoke the client.
- ROLL WITH RESISTANCE
- Accept that the job seeker has his or her own opinion; do not challenge or confront.
- Accept that resistance is a normal part of behavior change.
- Invite the job seeker to engage in dialogue about the situation.
- Listen and reflect, reframe or paraphrase.
- DEVELOP DISCREPANCY
- Help uncover the difference between the job seeker's goals and values and his or her current behavior.
- Help the job seeker to see the consequences of his or her current behavior.
- Do not take sides for or against the job seeker's current behavior; stay neutral.
- SUPPORT SELF-EFFICACY
Self-efficacy is the belief in oneself as being confident and able to be successful. You can support self-efficacy by:
- Encouraging the job seeker to believe that change is possible.
- Helping the job seeker uncover his or her strengths or past successes.
- Believing that the job seeker can be successful.
- Recognizing and communicating the job seeker's responsibility in driving change.
- Exploring ideas and realistic ways to achieve success with the job seeker.
Did you notice that none of these MI principles calls for TELLING people what to do? Feeling tempted to use your expertise to quickly "fix" your clients is so common that it has a name -- the righting reflex -- but will only serve to increase their feelings of powerlessness. Instead, Motivational Interviewing gives clients control over the decision-making process and their progression through the Stages of Change. Empowering them in this way builds their confidence, autonomy, and likelihood of success.
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